The Naked Warrior

1. Bodyweight Training: Accessible Strength, Anytime, Anywhere

Because it is always there.

The Naked Warrior philosophy. The core idea is that you should be able to rely on your own body for strength, regardless of the availability of equipment. This approach emphasizes self-reliance and adaptability, echoing the resourcefulness valued by Russian Special Forces.

• Improvise workouts anywhere, anytime.
• Strength training should not be limited by circumstances.
• "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."

Practical application. Bodyweight training ensures you can maintain a base level of strength even when traditional equipment is unavailable. This is particularly useful for those who travel frequently or find themselves in unpredictable environments. It's about being a "Naked Warrior," capable of physical prowess in any situation.

Beyond the basics. While barbells and kettlebells can enhance strength gains, bodyweight exercises provide a foundational level of fitness that is always accessible. This accessibility makes it easier to maintain consistency and avoid setbacks due to lack of equipment.

2. Strength Defined: Force Under Specific Conditions

Strength is the ability to generate force under given conditions.

Context matters. Strength isn't a monolithic quality; it's the ability to generate force in a specific context. This means that different types of strength are required for different activities, such as maximal strength, explosive strength, and strength endurance.

• Maximal strength: The ability to exert maximum force in a single effort.
• Explosive strength: The ability to exert force quickly.
• Strength endurance: The ability to sustain force over time.

Bodyweight examples. Oleg Ignatov's examples illustrate how bodyweight drills can develop these different types of strength. One-arm pushups for max strength, clapping pushups for explosive strength, and repetition pushups for strength endurance.

Focus on max strength. The Naked Warrior program primarily focuses on maximal strength, as it is often overlooked in popular fitness literature. Furthermore, improvements in max strength often lead to automatic increases in explosive strength.

3. Tension, Not Repetition: The Key to Pure Strength

Strength is built by tensing the muscles harder, not by exhausting them with countless reps.

High resistance is essential. Building respectable strength requires high-resistance, low-rep exercises that impose high levels of tension on the muscles. This is more effective than high-rep routines that focus on exhausting the muscles.

• Resistance, not weight, is the key.
• Bodyweight drills can be customized to provide sufficient resistance.
• Alter leverage and weight distribution to increase difficulty.

Mental focus is crucial. In addition to high resistance, mental focus on contracting the muscles harder is essential for generating high tension. This tension-generating skill is more important than muscle mass. Alexey Sivokon's bench press record at a light bodyweight exemplifies this.

Practice over workout. Since strength is a skill, training should be approached as a practice, not a workout. This involves daily practice, focusing on max tension, and avoiding muscle fatigue and failure.

4. Grease the Groove: Practice, Don't Exhaust

If you want to get good at pullups, why not try to do...a lot of pullups?

Specificity and frequency. The "Grease the Groove" (GTG) system emphasizes frequent practice of a chosen exercise to improve technique and strength. This approach involves doing many submaximal sets throughout the day, rather than a few exhaustive workouts.

• Specificity + frequent practice = success.
• Technique improves with practice.
• Nerves become "superconductors" for nerve force.

Avoid muscle failure. A critical component of the GTG system is avoiding muscle failure. Training should focus on performing exercises with perfect form and high tension, stopping well before fatigue sets in.

• Do half the reps you could do if you put your heart into it.
• Select harder variations of bodyweight exercises.
• Strength is a skill best practiced when fresh.

Counterintuitive success. The GTG system may seem counterintuitive to those accustomed to traditional workout routines. However, it has proven effective for many individuals, as evidenced by testimonials from the dragondoor.com forum.

5. High-Tension Techniques: Instant Strength Boost

Simply tensing the target muscles hard is great, but you can contract them even harder—much harder—by applying ancient martial arts tension secrets.

Channeling energy. High-tension techniques (HTTs) are methods that enhance strength by channeling the body's scattered energy into the target muscles. These techniques, derived from martial arts, maximize strength by forcing muscles to contract harder.

• Systematized into a straightforward method.
• Can be taught in days, even hours.
• Tension is the Naked Warrior's secret weapon.

Examples of HTTs:

• Making a fist: Increases tension in the forearms, upper arms, and shoulders.
• Power abs: Tensing the abs amplifies the intensity of muscular contractions.
• Static stomp: Applying maximum pressure to the ground with the foot or palm.
• Corkscrew: Twisting motion to concentrate power and amplify it.

Mental focus is key. The power of mental focus is crucial for maximizing the effectiveness of HTTs. Visualizing and consciously engaging the muscles can significantly increase strength.

6. Power Breathing: The Martial Arts Secret

Bruce Lee used to say that the martial arts rely more on “breath strength” than “body strength.”

Breath strength. Power breathing, or compressed breathing, maximizes intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) to amplify strength. This technique is often overlooked in Western strength training but is a cornerstone of martial arts.

• Lungs are reservoirs of air, and air is the lord of strength.
• Cranking up breath strength boosts body strength.
• The effect of breathing patterns and IAP on strength is often ignored.

Abdominal breathing. The key is to send pressure into the stomach, not the chest or head. This involves diaphragmatic breathing, where the diaphragm pushes down, expanding the belly and increasing IAP.

• Inhale through the nose for stronger diaphragmatic action.
• Flat abs are strong abs; a sucked-in stomach is weak.
• Reverse power breathing: Pull up your pelvic diaphragm and strain or "bear down" while keeping your stomach tight.

Compression, not exhalation. The most important aspect of power breathing is the intra-abdominal pressure, or compression, not the act of gas exchange. Focus on compression, and the breathing pattern will follow.

7. Pistol and One-Arm Pushup: The Naked Warrior Arsenal

The one-arm/one-leg pushup is such an exercise.

Core exercises. The Naked Warrior program features only two exercises: the one-legged squat (pistol) and the one-arm pushup. These exercises are brutally hard and work the whole body, serving as bodyweight equivalents of powerlifts.

• Pistol: Develops strong legs and requires balance and control.
• One-arm pushup: Strengthens the upper body and core, demanding total body tension.

Progressive training. Both exercises can be modified to suit different strength levels. Easier variations involve using assistance or elevating the hands, while harder variations involve adding weight or elevating the feet.

• Do fewer exercises better.
• Focus on details and technique.
• Laser-like focus leads to amazing heights.

Total body tension. The one-arm/one-leg pushup is an exercise in total body tension, requiring the application of all Naked Warrior performance techniques. This move strengthens the pushing muscles of the upper body and provides an awesome midsection workout.

8. Customize Resistance: Master Your Bodyweight

With experience and creativity, it is possible to learn or design exercises that, done correctly and with the proper progressions, are so lacking in leverage that even at bodyweight levels of resistance, it is possible to build staggering amounts of strength.

Manipulate variables. To make bodyweight exercises challenging enough for strength development, you can manipulate several variables:

• Redistribute your weight between your limbs.
• Manipulate the range of motion.
• Train in an unstable environment.
• Vary the leverage.
• Minimize bounce and momentum.

Weight redistribution. By altering the distribution of weight between limbs, you can increase or decrease the resistance of an exercise. For example, elevating your feet during pushups increases the weight on your arms.

Leverage and stability. Varying leverage and stability can also increase the difficulty of bodyweight exercises. The iron cross on rings is far more challenging than pullups, even though both involve lifting the same weight.

9. Driving GTG Home: The Five Fs of Success

The fewer skills you practice, the better you could get.

The Five Fs. To maximize the effectiveness of the "Grease the Groove" (GTG) system, focus on five key principles:

1. Focused: Limit the number of exercises.
2. Flawless: Employ super strict technique.
3. Frequent: Practice often, if possible in multiple mini-sessions.
4. Fresh: Avoid fatigue and muscle failure.
5. Fluctuating: Vary the exercises and intensity.

Focused and flawless. The fewer skills you practice, the better you will get. Practice must be perfect, implying high muscle tension and strict form.

Frequent and fresh. The more often you practice, the better you get, as long as you avoid fatigue and overtraining. Always feel stronger after your training than before you started.

Fluctuating. To avoid plateaus, train "same but different" by practicing variations of the same exercises and varying the sets, reps, and proximity to failure.

10. The Mind-Muscle Connection: Focus and Tension

All my attention, all my training, all my thinking is centered on my abdomen.

Mental focus. In any endeavor, including strength training, mental focus delivers more than physical transformation. Just watch a wiry old karate master chop a pile of bricks in half—a feat that would send a young bodybuilder to the emergency room.

Power abs. Tensing your abs will amplify the intensity of the contraction of any muscle in your body. Flat abs are strong abs; a sucked-in stomach is weak.

Rear-wheel drive. Experienced fighters know that real striking power is generated in the hips. Tensing the glutes amplifies any exertion.

Power up from the core. Initiate an effort from the core of the body and then dynamically pass it along to the striking limb while adding force from every muscle along the way.

Last updated: February 4, 2025